South Carolina is a very popular area to visit and to live. We regularly receive accolades as a wonderful place to retire, packed with wonderful small towns, an area where your money can go farther, and bordered by beautiful beaches. In fact, South Carolina has a warm climate and so much to do. West Columbia, SC is a beautiful and thriving area with low country towns surrounding it. Great southern food at your fingertips and overflowing with southern charm, people from all over love their decision to move here.

If you are looking for a one bedroom apartment in West Columbia, SC look no further than Abberly Village. These apartment homes have distinctive architecture and exclusive amenities. There are eight styles of one bedroom apartments with luxury apartment community amenities.

Abberly Village resides in the capital of South Carolina in a diverse residential, retail, and business community. Get a taste of the south with a built-in community too. This is a distinctive living environment custom-made for those seeking unmatched apartment amenities, spacious and inviting floor plans, and the dedication of a committed management team.

If you’re thinking about moving to the Palmetto State, you’re probably wondering about the cost of living in South Carolina.

Rent in South Carolina

The average monthly rent in South Carolina is low compared to the national average. A studio apartment in South Carolina has an average rent of $1,078, $23 above the U.S. average. But, a one-bedroom apartment in South Carolina rents for about $170 below the average for the country as a whole.

What about two bedrooms? The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in South Carolina is $280 below the national average. Three-bedroom apartments are even more of a bargain. In South Carolina, a three-bedroom place rents for $313 under the U.S. average.

There’s more good news for anyone planning to retire in South Carolina. The state does not tax Social Security retirement benefits. Plus, there’s a $15,000 deduction for seniors receiving any other type of retirement income.

Extras

There’s more to life than just the necessities. One popular extra expense in South Carolina is a beach. If you’re a nature-lover, be sure to take advantage of what South Carolina has to offer. Admission to Huntington Beach State Park is only $5. Caesars Head State Park is even more of a bargain, at $2.

Love zoos? You can visit the Greenville Zoo for just $9 or the Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens in Columbia, South Carolina for $13.95.

There has been a lot of conversation lately debating the value of housing as an investment. A case can be made that treating a house as an investment is the biggest mistake most people make in personal finance. That's why many people own houses they can't afford, and don't have sufficient financial assets to support themselves in retirement.

First and foremost, housing is a living expense. We have to pay some amount of money every month to live somewhere. Now, we will either pay it through renting a place or buying a place. But the amount spent on housing is a lifestyle expense. It's just like transportation. You have basic transportation costs to get around in life. You can either lease or buy a car, but the car is an expense, not an investment. And buying a $100,000 Mercedes isn't an investment; it's a lifestyle choice because you could have driven a used Kia or even taken the bus.

You might be thinking, "well a house is a lot different than a car, and that's not a valid comparison." Ah, but it is, because both assets are depreciating.

The house itself, the physical structure that you built or bought, is a depreciating asset, just like a car. It will age and fall apart over time unless you are constantly pumping money into it for maintenance. And the costs of maintenance and repair are expenses. Even when you pay off the mortgage, you will have costs to maintain, insure, and pay taxes on the value of that home. So the bigger the physical house, the more it will cost you to keep it. That's a fact.

By now you might be thinking, "but houses do go up in value, so how do you explain that?" Yes, they can as long as the region where you live is growing economically and you continue to maintain the home. If your region is growing, housing over the long term will roughly increase in price along with wage growth.

By the way, if housing prices grew faster than wages over the long term, then no one could eventually afford a house as the annual mortgage payments would be more than the average worker's total annual salary.

In most parts of the country, that means a return from housing just slightly above inflation. That's not bad, but when you offset those price increases with the costs of maintaining the home, you usually end up putting more money into the house than you get out of it. That's not much of an investment.

OK, if houses depreciate and cost money to keep up, how come some people have made lots of money on their houses? Here's the answer: what really goes up in value is the land, not the house you built. Some people get lucky with houses and end up owning homes in parts of the country that experience big increases in land values. That's why the three most important things in real estate are location, location, location. It's the land that has the potential long term value, not the physical house.

Bottom line. Houses are primarily a lifestyle expense. Necessary, but still an expense. Buy only what you can comfortably afford, and leave plenty of room in the budget to invest in financial assets that can support you in retirement.

#3 Best College Towns, 2016 - Columbia, SC

Columbia, SC might not benefit from a behemoth university like the University of Michigan, but that’s one of the things that makes it great, and why this is its second year on our 10 Best College Towns list.

As the capital of the state, government jobs abound, along with generally high salaries and the benefits that come with them. Healthcare is also a prominent industry, boasting the two largest employers in the area, Palmetto Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina.

Along with the University of South Carolina, the state’s flagship university, the area is also host to a large number of private institutions, including Baptist, Lutheran, African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Methodist colleges. In fact, out of the seven non-technical colleges and universities in the area, six are private.

Adding to the area’s youthful feel is Fort Jackson, the largest U.S. Army Basic Combat Training installation, which employs thousands of military and civilian personnel. The installation also trains about half of all Army entrants each year; and with tens of thousands of families visiting Basic Training graduations almost every week, area restaurants and hotels (and the residents who enjoy them year round) benefit in a big way.

Columbia all offers a huge range of things to do. From outdoor activities like hunting, fishing or camping, to a surprisingly active art and music scene, residents and students have plenty of culture at their fingertips. The Columbia Museum of Art has one of the largest collections in the state, with 20,000 square feet of gallery space. And the town has no shortage of activities for history buffs, either. The South Carolina State Museum boasts an enormous collection of over 45,000 pieces.